Al Akhawayn University’s Alumni Office held the first of its #AlumniTalkSeries on December 4th. The inaugural event featured alumnus Wadia Ait Hamza, an AUI graduate of the class of 2005, and was titled “A Journey into Leadership.”

Wadia holds a Bachelor’s Degree in International Studies with a minor in Women and Development from AUI and a Master’s Degree in Euro-Mediterranean Affairs. He is the head of the Global Shapers Community at the World Economic Forum, an international network of young people connected in their commitment to improving the world starting with their own communities and has previously worked at the Rabat School of Governance and Economics, Toyota, and the European Institute for the Mediterranean in Barcelona. Wadia is also a former member of the Youth Consultative Committee of the League of Arab States, and served as a trainer and facilitator for the Council of Europe and the League of Arab States Youth Summits. During his time as a member of the Euro-Mediterranean Youth Parliament, Wadia and his colleagues launched projects such as Media Youth Parliament and Euro-Mediterranean Academy for Young Journalists. He is also a 2012 United Nations Alliances of Civilizations fellow, and a cohort member of the 2013 Global Leadership Fellow of the World Economic Forum.

During the event, Wadia gave advice to students at AUI on success, failures, and the process of realizing your achievements and reaching the goals you have in life. When speaking about perspective and having to make do with what we are given, Wadia said, “If I give you a hammer, you can build a table, or you can build a building. It’s a tool. What you make of it is up to you. You can either decide to build a table or you can build a skyscraper. That is a diploma, it’s knowledge.”

Wadia has continuously represented AUI well in the world since his time here, and is a living success story that many AUI students, and people in general, can take example of. When asked how AUI shaped him to become the success he is today, Wadia said, “I am who I am now thanks to AUI. AUI shaped me in different ways; academically, human aspect, socially, we discovered life in AUI. The best friends are from AUI, the best souvenirs are from AUI, the best times spent in my life are in this University. I’m definitely a 100% product of AUI.”

The entire first edition of the #AlumniTalkSeries with Wadia can be found here: